Retrieving Severed Anchor & Splicing Rode

Saturday, March 14th, Whisper went sailing on Lake Washington to meet up with SURT out of Kirkland. With winds gusting to 28 knots, we reached back & forth between Kirkland & Sand Point. SURT was under genoa only, while Whisper was under only a reefed main. We had a good ride.

The plan was to raft up about 4:00PM in Cozy Cove between Hunts & Yarrow Points. Whisper was first so we dropped anchor in 12 feet of water and paid out 90' of rode (30' of 3/8" chain + 60' of 3 strand nylon). After about 30 minutes, M/V Lucky Dog showed up with SURT following in another half hour. M/V Lucky Dog paid out all chain as we settled into our 3 boat raft.

With our anchor lines at a significantly oblique angle, Gary decided to reposition his anchor. Without a lot of detail, suffice it to say that Whisper came away with no anchor and missing 94' of rode. It wasn't lost since I knew right where it was.

Wednesday the salvage crew set out to retrieve Whisper's ground tackle.

Ron Voss crafted a gaff hook with weights to rake the bottom. With a fender to mark the anchor's location, within 90 minutes Ron was successful.

Now the end to end splice (see accompanying slide show)...

Click to view.

Whisper's anchor locker is filled once more.

"Thank you's" to Gary, Ron, Larry & Darilyn, who came along for moral support AND brought banana bread!